Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World Essay - 1

Aristotelian Conventions of Tragedy in King Lear and Brave New World - Essay practice sessionAristotelian conventions such as a characterized Recognition of Self, and Suffering, both of which work to together to give tragic drama much of its emotional impact, are implant to be driving forces in these master works. King Lear and Savage John, respectively, reveal their statuses as tragic heroes through their belated recognition of their own self-awareness and the suffering they put up with in order to reach that self-recognition. In this essay, both Shakespeares King Lear and Huxleys Savage John will be analyzed in price of these two Aristotelian conventions of tragedy in order to show how both Lear and John represent tragic heroes in some of literatures tabugo forms. twain King Lear and Brave New World follow the Aristotelian convention of Recognition of Self. In Aristotles formulation, this requires that heroes undergo some suffering that leads to a cathartic sense of self-awa reness derived from the pain of suffering (20). Aristotle claims that a man must realize the (internal) root of his own downfall before he can make out a tragic hero. King Lear gains this self-awareness as he wanders the heath with his Fool. He realizes the role he has played in his own downfall and it causes his descent into madness. Lear returns to saneness and to wisdom by realizing that his arrogance has led him both to accept the flattery of others and to overestimate his own power. He remarks upon this in a lament that they told me I was everything tis a lie, -- I am not ague-proof (1001). He later displays this growing self-awareness as he shakes flip overs with Gloucester but says that first he must wipe his hand because it smells of mortality (1001). Through a realization that his own power is limited, Lear is able to reassess his life and the loyalty of others, but not before the war breaks out across his former kingdom by those fighting to right the wrongs largely broug ht on because of his arrogance. Similarly, in Brave New World, John comes to realize his own limitations, part because of his ongoing struggle to maintain a separation from the new world he confronts. At the end of his story, as he decides to go live by himself, he tells his friend Helmholtz, I ate civilization it poisoned me I was defiled. And then I ate my own wickedness (241). In this admission, he shows that he was uneffective to resist societys hold upon him due to something inside his own heart. While he continues throughout the story to try to purify himself, in the end, alike Lear, he fails in his effort to overcome the world that he himself has had a hand in creating through a refusal to understand himself earlier in the story. Both King Lear and Brave New World also deal with the Aristotelian convention of Suffering. Aristotle argues that suffering is constituted in destructive or painful exertion that brings about death, wounds, or agony (21). For King Lear his suffer ing is brought on by his unjust treatment of Cordelia in the beginning of the play. This action is parallel by the means his cruel older daughters, Goneril and Regan, treat him after he has given them their portion of his holdings and power. He recognizes